As a Latin teacher, I struggle with creating authentic learning experiences. Most authentic Roman cultural experiences would get me reprimanded or fired. Authentic Latin literature? I teach beginning Latin to middle school students. Yesterday a student put verb endings on a noun. I am, however, an authentic teacher. If I am to be truly authentic
Read More… from Authenticity, Duplicity, and the Philadelphia 76ers
COVID-19 has challenged us to re-envision education. Every aspect of “best practice” is currently up for re-examination and debate, from current academic practices to recommendations on how to best develop meaningful curriculum to how to cultivate meaningful relationships with students/families. In the process, we have also discovered that it is not enough to make education
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Using a simple checklist can help educators design quality assessments When Ken O’Connor’s daughter was in 7th grade, she was given an assignment that included a detailed rubric. He spent time with her unpacking the rubric so that she understood the expectations. After much hard work, she produced what he thought to be an excellent
Read More… from Assessing with Instructional Integrity Before, During and After the Pandemic
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Revisiting the value of informal teaching beyond planned instruction. Wayside teaching was first introduced in the May 1987 “As I See It” column in the Middle School Journal—30 years ago. Here is a slightly modified version of it, particularly for all those educators who came to the middle school more recently. Formal, organized instruction is
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For at least a half dozen years I have proudly proclaimed on my website and in webinars that I have a 99% paperless classroom, so you might be surprised to learn that I spent my lunchtime on Friday photocopying packets. My students are fatigued by the thing that used to make my classroom “cool” and
Read More… from Taking it Old School: A Screen Time Interruption
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Two teachers create an online space, Tech4teachers.info, to help other educators reach their “roomies” and their “Zoomies This past year’s sudden and seismic shift into virtual learning also thrust educators to step into new roles, including Erin Scholes and JJ Van Ess. The two teachers, one in a public school and the other an independent
Read More… from Survive and Thrive: A K-12 Teacher’s Guide to Hybrid Learning
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